Lovia struggles underneath a pile of fallen rubble. Her shabby dress is ripped in several places, and she's coated in a layer of dust. Her hat fell somewhere before she got here, and she doubts she'll manage to find it again.
Not long after the two boys left, she heard a distressing groan coming from outside. It wasn't hard to realize the Tower of Rust was falling after that, especially when someone screamed the fact. So, she hid in the corner of an old building and crouched, shielding her head.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, but she has started to reconsider after the building collapsed. Now she's struggling to rise to her knees, with large chunks of concrete resting on her back, blocking the moonlight and entombing her in darkness.
If this had happened fifty years ago, she would've stood a chance of escape, but now her bones are brittle, and her muscles are deteriorated. She's fit for her age, but not that fit! Still, there's no reason to give up. The worst-case scenario is that she'll die of dehydration, and she'd really rather not. So, she strains her weak legs and arms to rise to her hands and knees.
Dust and rubble shift above her, and the faint silver glimmer of the moon shines on her face. Sweat rolls down her brow, but she smiles nonetheless. Then her legs give out, and she collapses along with the rest of the rubble.
"Goddamnit."Lovia's smile turns terse, and she breathes heavily.
"Hey! Hello!" Suddenly, a muffled voice filters through the rocks and reaches her ears. "I'm guessing you're in there, but I'm not entirely sure! So… could you yell back?"
The pile of rubble muffles the voice so Lovia can't recognize it, but she can guess who it is. Silas. There aren't many people who can stay calm after something like this, and especially not many who act this infuriatingly nonchalant. Gritting her teeth, Lovia debates whether to respond, but her desire not to die quickly wins out over her apprehension of him. "Yeah! I'm here! You wouldn't mind helping a poor old lady out, would you!"
Silas's muffled answer quickly worms through the rubble. "Well, I'd seem pretty rude if I didn't! But only if you close your eyes! I'm not technically allowed to show people this!"
For a few moments, Lovia feels apprehension and thinks of lying about closing her eyes, but discards that idea immediately. Silas is an unknown powerhouse with undefined abilities; he might have a way of knowing. So, she squeezes her eyes shut and shouts back, "Seems a bit sketchy, but alright! I've got'em closed!"
"Thanks!" Suddenly, just as the words dissipate in the air, Lovia feels weightless for a fraction of a second and can't help but gasp. Then she roughly falls to the ground, and a few small pebbles and some dust land on her back. It's as though she fell to the ground from a foot in the air. "You can open them now." Silas's calm voice suddenly seems much clearer and louder, as though he's standing right next to her.
Following Silas's instructions, Lovia opens her eyes, and a quiet snicker leaves her lips. "Well, goddamn. You're a bona fide magician." She's lying on the ground, her left cheek resting against the cool pavement. Just to her right are the ruins of a collapsed building, the same one she was trapped in. Rubble and debris are scattered around her, but now she's completely unpinned. It's as though she was teleported out of the rubble.
Shakily rising to her feet, Lovia takes a look around and pats the dust out of her black dress. Then she focuses on Silas. "You look nice."
"Thank you." Silas smiles kindly as blood drips down his forehead. He does, in fact, not look nice. Blood stains his greasy, black hair, and his dirty business suit is torn in several places. Burnt holes reveal his singed skin, and a multitude of deep and shallow cuts litter his body, flowing with crimson liquid and staining the already messy suit even more. Most noticeably, is a long cut on his forehead, causing a stream of blood to flow down the right side of his face and tinting his eye crimson.
Despite this, Silas remains relaxed and calm, talking with Lovia casually. "So," she asks, "am I allowed to know how you got like that?"
Silas thinks for a moment and then smiles. "That rem's a tricky one. It's a lot smarter than most, and apparently, it can see through dust. You'd have pretty good odds if you bet on it over me when we fought then."
So it's called a rem. A sliver of knowledge is revealed to Lovia. Actually, it's a lot more than a sliver. For instance, now she knows what the creature Alex talked about is called. Furthermore, since Silas seems so beat up, and he mentioned it being able to see through dust, they seem to have fought a second time, right after the Tower of Rust fell. Plus, Silas admitted he was on the losing side, which means that he and the "rem" are well matched, or at least, equal to the point that the environment can determine the winner.
"Haha!" Lovia cackles loudly, "So you got your ass kicked, huh! Well, congrats on not dying, I guess! I feel I've gotta ask, did you win?" Although she's laughing on the outside, internally, Lovia is tense. Silas is definitely not trustworthy yet, but he hasn't done anything threatening, so the best option is to play it cool and act like she usually does.
Tugging at his suit's bloody collar, Silas sighs deeply. "It got away before I could finish it off, like I said, it's tricky. That's actually why I'm here now." A rush of panic pulls at Lovia's heart as Silas utters his next words in a less-than-casual way. "Where's Alexander Ackrom heading?"
***
Looking at the Harrow Bridge, Alex can't help but feel a sense of grandeur. Like a monument to industrial might, the Harrow Bridge is a long line of steel lattices and supports that stretches across the water, connecting the banks of the Missouri. Several arches of steel beams run along its length, and massive concrete supports stretch into the water where the arches connect. Interestingly, it's very close to the water line, looking barely high enough for a boat to fit under.
Fortunately for Alex, the bridge seems to be undergoing repairs, because there's a large, orange construction sign blocking cars from driving over it. And since it's night, there are no workers, so he won't have to worry about other people getting in the way.
Looking back at the metal placard, Alex looks below the title to see a short description of the bridge, probably for tourists, nevertheless he quickly skims through it. Built in 1904… massive project… memorial for someone… one of the oldest bridges in Rifield.
"Cool, right! This is my first time seeing it, but Austin told me all about it!" Jack's eyes sparkle as he animatedly gloats, seeming to have bounced back from his earlier emotional crisis and interrupting Alex's reading.
Alex grins and agrees, "Sure is, now all I've got to do is wait for a barge, jump on without being noticed, stowaway for a few hours, make a life in a new city from scratch, gather supplies, enlist some help, travel back here, find the panther, and kill it! I'd say this plan is going swimmingly!" With a smile plastered on his face, Alex saunters onto the empty bridge, ignoring Jack's strange expression.
Although after walking a few steps on the bridge, he frowns and turns back around to see Jack following close behind. "What are you doing?"
Jack looks at Alex like he just asked the stupidest question possible. "What do you mean?"
Alex returns the look with a similar one. "Well, I mean, I'm here, the panther's on the other side of the city, all I've got to do is wait for a barge. Everything's pretty much over. Shouldn't you be going home now?"
A wave of indignation washes over Jack, and he takes a step forward, shortening the distance between the two. "You do realize I'm going on the boat too, right? I'm not just gonna abandon you."
"Huh?" Alex takes a step back, but Jack follows him. He seems almost personally offended at the notion that he would just leave.
"I'm your friend Alex. What kind of friend would just leave after all this? You'll need help gathering supplies and enlisting allies, especially with your personality."
"I'll have you know I have a great personality!" A faint frown crosses Alex's face. "Besides, don't you have family here? A job too?"
Jack doesn't waver for a second before he retorts, "I can call them anytime. And HMS blew up!"
After a few more rounds of back and forth, Alex eventually relents and grumbles under his breath. "He's way too stubborn for these things."
"What?" Jack, like a bat, twitches his ears at the noise.
"Nothing," Alex replies casually, waving his hand and starting to walk to the center of the bridge, "just talking to myself like a lunatic! Now c'mon, I doubt a barge will sail this close to shore!"